Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 7y

Yaya Toure: Pep Guardiola expects Manchester City to win in style

Yaya Toure says Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is determined to win in style -- just as he did at Barcelona.

City have been impressive in preseason, scoring 10 goals in their final friendlies with a 4-1 victory over Real Madrid and back-to-back 3-0 wins over Premier League rivals Tottenham and West Ham.

Toure, who has extended his stay at the Etihad Stadium after signing a new one-year contract, says the current philosophy is similar to his time at Barca under Guardiola.

"The mentality of the manager is playing good and winning -- not just winning," Toure told reporters. "We want the fans to enjoy it and we try to do our best. If we have to score more then we will score more.

"At Barcelona I was used to playing like that. I'm a type of player with a lot of experience. I think I'm lucky because I used to play under Pep at Barcelona and I know what he wants. He was a brilliant midfielder and [City coach] Mikel Arteta as well, and those two have helped me a lot and given me a lot of confidence. I'm just there to enjoy it and win trophies and that is what I want."

City dropped 17 points in the Premier League at home last season and Toure says it is important that they learn to beat teams who come to the Etihad Stadium to defend.

The 34-year-old was particularly impressed with City's final victory of preseason over West Ham in Iceland because the Hammers tried to remain defensive throughout the 90 minutes.

"It's good for the confidence, it's good for the next game," he said. "The game we had against West Ham is the typical type of game we're going to have usually in the Premier League and maybe in Europe.

"I think we find a difficult opponent who close the line, they don't attack, they don't open and I think it was good training for that because the games we produced against Madrid and Tottenham were quite open.

"For us it was good to have good pressing and we found it a bit difficult because it was a long ball and the second ball was very important but I thought we had a good game.

"In the first half when we get the chance to score the goal I said I think they're going to be open. But I think West Ham after the first goal, they stayed with the same system and it was difficult. But I think it's good we can learn and try to adapt to the way the opponent is playing and make the break."

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